The need for magnetic sensors that detect all components of a magnetic field in three-dimensions is ever increasing due to their application in cell phones and other portable electronics as compass devices. Because of physical size constraints and for the ease of manufacture, the preferred solution in the art today is to integrate three sensors components into a single integrated circuit package. Any such integration of the sensors, to be a viable solution in the market space, needs to be cost competitive.
With magnetic sensor technology (such as Anisotropic Magnetoresistance (AMR) sensors, for example) there are several critical aspects that prevent it from reaching the most preferred commercial option. Cost and physical height of the resulting sensors are two of those aspects. Single die monolithic three-axis magnetic sensor device does not exist currently. This deficiency has been overcome by utilizing two die solutions. For example, a single die sensitive in two orthogonal directions is used to achieve in-plane 2-axis sensing. Then, a second sensor die is rotated so that it's sensing axis is orthogonal to that of the former die. The latter die is mounted via reflow soldering on to a substrate. However, such solutions to date have been expensive and difficult to manufacture because of the small die size, expensive multi-step processing needed to create interconnections to the vertically oriented sensor.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for improved systems and methods for three-axis sensor packages.